WMOD00313

• Title: Cloud Physics Studies in Utah During 1978
• Date: 9/1/1978
• State: UT
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

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CHAPTER 3

OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES

On 7 February 1978 John Marwitz met in Salt Lake City, Utah with
representatives of the State of Utah, representatives of the Bureau of
Reclamation, and representatives of North American Weather Consultants.
The ongoing Utah Weather Modification Program was described and a set of
operational procedures was agreed upon. Mr. Paul Summers, cloud seeding
coordinator for the State of Utah, agreed to provide all assistance
necessary to insure that we were given priority support. Mr. Don Rottner
was the field director for the Bureau of Reclamation. As such, he par-
ticipated in the decisions to fly research missions. Mr. Bob Swartz was
the project director for NAWC, and as such provided forecasting and logis-
tic support when requested. NAWC also provided realtime ground seeding
reports, aircraft seeding reports, radar reports and rawinsonde information.
A letter of agreement was established between the Salt Lake City Air
Route Traffic Control Center and the Bureau of Reclamation. The letter of
agreement established the Uinta research area and allowed the pilot of the
KIA to fly at Minimum Obstruction Clearance Altitude (MOCA) within this
research area. MOCA is at least 2000 ft above the highest obstruction
for 5N mi either side of the proposed flight path. Under this agreement
the pilot of the KIA accepted the responsibility for maintaining MOCA.
Subsequent to signing the letter of agreement, the Salt Lake City ARTCC
verbally approved an agreement to allow MOCA flights by the KIA over and
west of the Wasatch Range from Ogden, Utah to southern Utah. The pro-
posed flight tracks over the Uinta Mountains are shown in Figure 3.1.
The KIA and Wyoming crew were located in Laramie while waiting for
storms to develop, but during a storm we typically remained overnight
in Salt Lake City. When in Laramie, we closely monitored the synoptic
conditions each day, but when in Salt Lake City, we depended upon weather
data provided by NAWC to decide when to launch the KIA. When a possible
storm situation appeared a series of phone calls were initiated among
Rottner, Swartz and Marwitz in order to determine when to begin flying a
particular storm. The ferry time from Laramie to the Uinta Range was
~ 1 hr, while the ferry time from Salt Lake City to the Uinta Range was

9.